This Morning: Quarterbacking AAPL, That Hynix Fire, Cheers for SPLK

By Tiernan Ray

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

The beat goes on, as today heralds another raft of assessments of Apple‘s (AAPL) iPhone fortunes in advance of next week’s media event at the company’s headquarters, following a raft of notes yesterday.

Brian White of Cantor Fitzgerald, reiterating a Buy rating and a $777 price target, picks up on last night’s article by The Wall Street Journal‘s Ian Sherr, Eva Dou, and Lorraine Luk, stating that Apple is “evaluating a plan to offer iPhones with screens ranging from 4.8 inches to as high as 6 inches,” citing multiple unnamed sources.

Writes White, a larger iPhone is likely, and it will boost Apple’s prospects in China because “the world’s largest country demands mega-sized phones,” based on his trips to the country over 18 months.

Speaking of Apple, CNBC this morning reported that the judge overseeing the the e-books case against the company has passed an injunction barring Apple for two years from entering into any agreements that would limit what it can charge for e-books. The judge will also assign a compliance monitor to observe Apple’s e-book practices. You can read more in the Reuters brief here.

The announcement caused Apple shares to give up early gains, with the stock now down $2.73, or half a percent, at $492.54.

The Street continues to contemplate the impact of a fire reported Wednesday at DRAM supplier SK Hynix (000660KS). An article by Reuters‘s Jungah Leethis morning states that prices of DRAM chips have surged 19% since the incident, the most in three years.

“Typically these kind of events lead to a few months of increased pricing depending on how severe the supply impact was […] We are still assessing the impact but believe this could lead to a shortage of 3% to 12% for a period of 1-3 months.”

Steve Mullane of BlueFin Research contests Hynix’s own account that there was no serious damage, writing “Our checks indicate that the fire occurred in their diffusion section of the fab.”

“If this is true, the cleanroom had to be contaminated due to the smoke from the fire.”

Shares of memory chip makers Micron Technology (MU) and SanDisk (SNDK) continue to ride that price rise, with Micron up a penny at $15.18, and SanDisk shares up 52 cents, or 0.9%, at $58.49.

Shares of InfoBlox (BLOX) are up $3.18, or 9%, at $38.42, after the company last night beat fiscal Q4 expectations and offered a higher-than-expected revenue outlook as well.

Another big gainer this morning is VeriFone (PAY), up $2.12, or over 10%, at $22.84. The payment processor last night beat fiscal Q3 expectations and forecast this quarter’s revenue higher as well. The stock got at least one upgrade this morning, by Wedbush’s Gil Luria, to Outperform from Neutral.

Shares of cellular tower owner American Tower (AMT) are up $3.02, or 4.4%, at $71.77, after the company this morning announced it will buy a real estate investment trust, MIP Tower Holdings, for $4.8 billion, giving it 5,400 additional towers in the U.S. and 800 “property interests.”

Shares of big data technology vendor Splunk (SPLK) are up $1.14, or 2%, at $56.53, after Canaccord Genuity‘s Richard Davis started coverage of the company wit a Buy rating and a $62 price target, writing that it is “only mid-cap public investment play, on something more interesting – helping companies understand what’s happening in their business.”

Shares of 3-D printer maker 3D Systems (DDD) are down 85 cents, or 1.6%, at $52.38, following an article in The Journal by Rolfe Winkler casts doubt on the consumer prospects for the company’s machines.

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There are 5 comments

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 12:12 P.M.

Dear Judge. I Curse You and Yours. For an Eternity. LOL wrote:

Judge Denise Cote should only be handling traffic court...

Why doesn't Judge Denise Cote do something about Amazon choking and starving the small press to death? Those people deserve an opportunity to put bread on their table and thrive just like anyone else. Hmm.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 12:42 P.M.

Market Mayhem wrote:

How long is it going to be before Tim Cook gets the boot? Apple's share price positively sucks. Apple has supposedly lined up contracts with both China Mobile and DoCoMo and the share price continues to sputter like a wet fuse. If that was either Google or Amazon, the share price would have already exploded. Wall Street must believe that Apple's chances of successfully selling the iPhone 5C and 5S are slim to none. Apparently, Wall Street believes the iPhone's display is too small and nobody will purchase a smartphone with a small display. Maybe they think that consumers will only buy $100 Android smartphones and that any smartphone more than that is too expensive for consumers.

Apple has been one of the poorest performing stocks for 2013. It's being valued more like a company headed for bankruptcy than headed for revival. Steve Jobs may be dead but Wall Street needs to get over that at some point. Tim Cook is probably the most hated CEO by Wall Street and they're putting the screws to him.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 12:47 P.M.

Macrimony wrote:

Jeff Bezos and Amazon trumps Tim Cook and Apple every time. Apple has no leverage at all. Jeff Bezos is greatly loved by Wall Street and the court system. Tim Cook is thoroughly despised by both. Maybe if Apple replaces Tim Cook Apple's value will soar. Anything would be better than the way Apple's stock is failing now.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 3:10 P.M.

Judge Cootch wrote:

I might be an idiot in court. But in my house I'm a liberated woman. Hurray! So in my house no means yes and yes means guess what?! And if you don't eat pork. We can work something out. Eat me.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.